


a year from now you'll wish you'd started today

by Marishna



Series: Advent Calendar 2016 [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Confessions, Drunkenness, First Kiss, Flirting, Hangover, M/M, Mutual Pining, New Years, Old Wives' Tales, Safe Sane and Consensual, Sharing a Bed, Superstition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8805892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marishna/pseuds/Marishna
Summary: With the passing of one year to the next it seemed the magic year was struck and Stiles awoke to his first thought of the day screaming in his brain in the form of a throbbing headache.
"Getting too old for this," he whispered to himself with his eyes still closed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day nine of my holiday-based Advent Calendar I'm attempting. 
> 
> Anyone NEW want to claim a day and prompt me with pictures/quotes/Texts from Last Night (I'm a big fan of visual prompts)? Click here: http://marishna.livejournal.com/912196.html

With the passing of one year to the next it seemed the magic year was struck and Stiles awoke to his first thought of the day screaming in his brain in the form of a throbbing headache.

"Getting too old for this," he whispered to himself with his eyes still closed.

The night before started out civilly enough.  Cocktails in actual glassware and muted music with finger foods devolved into drinking straight from bottles and shrieking laughter over the sound of multiple delivery people showing up to the door at Derek's loft. 

Kudos to the pack for even trying, though.

Stiles felt around on his bed for his phone, sensing opening his eyes was going to be far too painful to do quickly, and frowned at how much softer his sheets felt under his fingers.  He didn't remember getting high the night before but maybe one of the drinks he had was spiked with some of the wolfsbane kicking around and he was still hyper-sensing at the moment.

He grumbled when his hand hit the bedside table, curling in on himself a bit.   He must have been at a weird angle for his hand to hit it. He was tempted to fall back into nothingness but as soon as he considered going back to sleep his bladder made itself aware. 

Giving up on finding his phone Stiles slowly rolled over onto his back... and felt another arm brush his.

Suddenly very awake Stiles sat up and looked around, blinking quickly at the bright light and strange surroundings.

"Jesus Christ," he whispered to himself when it hit him like a ton of bricks that he was in _Derek's_ bed.

Derek who was asleep beside Stiles with his dark eyelashes twitching imperceptibly against his tan cheek.  Derek who wasn't wearing a shirt and from the looks of it--oh wait, the sheet was riding up Stiles and confirmed--no pants either.  Derek who started flirting back with Stiles when he arrived home from college and was single-handedly responsible for the nervous breakdown Stiles was sure he was going to have. 

He found his phone buried under the pillow he'd drooled on in his sleep and made a face.  He flipped it over as he thumbed a group text out, _Happy New Yr! How's every1 feeling? Wild night LOL_.

Flirting with Derek was always more of a fun past time, chalked up to the same phase he went through with Lydia in high school.  He'd grown accustomed to people brushing him off all the time with a forced polite laugh or outright ignoring him that he didn't know how to react when someone reciprocated.

College wasn't a barren wasteland for Stiles.  He'd had his share of girlfriends, boyfriends and assorted hookups over the previous few years but no one stuck around for more than a couple months.  When he returned home it was old hat to fall into the same patterns with Derek.  

When Derek became the focus of his attempted-amorous one-liners Stiles couldn't recall but it couldn't have been _that_ long ago, right?

Stiles was so lost in thought that he didn't realize Derek's eyes were open and staring at him as he had a small breakdown.  Derek totally caught Stiles raking his gaze over Derek's bare chest and touching his lips.

"You okay?" Derek asked, voice sleep-rough and smoky. 

Stiles prided himself on not jumping but he couldn't hide the slight bump in his heart rate.  He tentatively looked down at Derek and their eyes met.

"Are you okay?" Derek repeated and Stiles nodded jerkily.

Derek obviously didn't believe him because he pushed himself to sit and angled himself toward Stiles.  He tried to reach out to take Stiles' hand but stopped himself and folded them against his chest.

"You're not okay," Derek sighed.

"Just a hangover," Stiles replied evenly as if they weren't both sitting under Derek's sheets with an amazing thread count.

Derek shook his head. "You know what I mean."

Stiles hesitated, then nodded.  "I'm a bit confused.  Did we...?"

Derek realized wheat Stiles was alluding to and his face fell.  Stiles immediately felt like an asshole at even accidentally implying Derek would ever take advantage of him and held up his hands quickly.  "No, no!  I mean, like--not like _that_!  I know you'd never do anything without my full understanding and consent and--"

"Nothing happened, Stiles," Derek assured him quickly.  "You put your foot down."

"Good, good," Stiles muttered, nodding.  Then he registered what Derek said.  "Wait, I put my foot down?  About what?"

Derek got red but the hint of a smile played on his lips as he met Stiles' eyes.  "You don't remember cornering me in the bathroom an hour before midnight?"

Stiles thought hard and thought he could catch glimpses of his back being pressed against the wall and laughing really loudly while holding onto Derek's arms.  "Maybe?" he ventured.

"You were rambling about a superstition that said the person you kiss at New Year's would be the person you spent the year with."

Stiles knew that adage from years of his grandmother telling him about it yearly and to be careful about who he picked to kiss once the clock chimed the next twelve months in. If Stiles was honest the reason he'd never kissed someone at New Year's was because he never had someone to kiss, not because he was afraid of his grandmother's words.  However...

"Sounds like something I'd say," Stiles agreed. "How did I end up here, then?"

"You, uh. Demanded to stay," Derek told him with a small laugh.  "And demanded to be cuddled before you would fall asleep."

Stiles groaned and buried his face in his hands, totally embarrassed at his drunk self. "I'm _so_ sorry," he mumbled around his fingers.  Derek sighed softly and nodded.

"I know you are," he replied.  Stiles peeked from behind his fingers because Derek sounded... sad?  He looked kind of wistful even.  For a split second Stiles considered that maybe Derek was sad they didn't kiss each other at the strike of midnight and maybe he wanted to spend--ha! Of course not.

Stiles' brain was in a tug of war with his emotions and refused to inform him how to feel and, in turn, react.  He was conflicted with no end in sight so instead Stiles pasted on as wide a grin his face would allow him and shrugged.

"Your loss, I suppose," he said with a forced laugh, breaking out the finger guns.

Derek didn't roll his eyes as he usually did when Stiles went for full cheese-effect.  Instead he got red again and looked down as he softly agreed, "It is."

"Now come on, that's not fair!" Stiles burst out, wincing only a little at the shudder his brain gave.

 Derek looked shocked.  "What are you talking about?"

Stiles gestured between them. "This whole thing, it's not fair!  You don't have to tease me by pretending to flirt back, okay?  I appreciate you not leading me along by letting me kiss you last night or something stupid."

Derek didn't say anything back.  Instead he stared at Stiles, open-mouthed with a confused look in his face. 

Stiles inhaled sharply, a sudden thought popping into his head.  "Kiss me," he blurted out.  Derek still didn't say anything but he sat up straight and leaned toward Stiles who breathed, "Holy shit," under his breath.

"Do you mean it?" Derek asked lowly.  Stiles nodded as his eyes locked with Derek's.  Derek seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and cupped Stiles' cheek gently.  "That's what you told me to wait for."

Stiles cocked his head and his lips brushed Derek's thumb.  "Huh?"

"Last night you were going on about signs and how important the New Year was and you pointed your finger at me a lot so I knew it was a big thing to you.  Something about an old wive's tale?"

 "My babcia's superstition," Stiles realized and he laughed as he covered Derek's hand with his own. He then pointed to himself.  "This is what you're getting, you know."

Derek nodded and smiled fondly.  "I'm well aware."

 Stiles brushed his fingers over Derek's lips. "Are you done waiting?"

Derek nodded.  "Been ready for a while."

Stiles leaned in, keeping his eyes locked with Derek's. Before their lips touched he whispered, "Happy New Year."

They ignored the chirp of a group text alert on Stiles’ phone until much, much later.

Isaac: _I woke up this morn still rly drunk with xmas lights everywere and 2 owls in my bed. WFT happend last nite?!_


End file.
